Torpedo construction.



H, w. SHUNNARD. TORPEDO CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED AUG.3I|1914.

Patented May 2, 1916 MSLMS.

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HAR-om) W. sHoNNARD, or FAR ROCKAWAY, NEW YORK; AssIGNon To cnUcIBLn YSTEEL COMPANY or AMERICA, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- TION0F NEW JERSEY.

TORPEDO CONSTRUCTION.

To all whom it' may concern.'

Be itr known that I, HAROLD W. SHON- NARD, residing at F ar Rockaway, inthe county of Queens and State of New York,

a citizen of the United States, have invented" or discovered certain newand useful Im-A rovements in Torpedo Construction, of vhich improvementsthe following is a specilication.

Automobile torpedoes, as usually constructed, comprise in part, acompressed air flask, the outer side walls of which ferm the centralportion of the torpedo shell body, the head and the after body of thetorpedo being secured to the fore and aft ends, respectively, of suchflask. During the running of the torpedo the compressed air flows fromhe flask to a heater, in whicha fluid fuel i burned, and into whichwatei, is infollows that the air storage liask must, in al practicalconstruction, be a part of thetorpedo body; and because the weight of atorpedo must not exceed the weight'of water displaced thereby, the askmust be of very light construction. This necessitates the use of"expensive and accurately machined high lresistance material ofcomplicated design, resulting in a very low factor of safety, which hascaused to be established the practice, except in actual warfare, ofcharging the air flask after the torpedo has been placed within thelaunching tube and just before launching. When in action, the hazard ofhandling the charged torpedo and the possibility of it being struck by ashot is necessarily ignored. Furthermore,

l in order to chargev torpedoes with compressed air aboard ship in areasonable length of time requires large and complicatedv compressorsandother apparatus which occupy Speccation of Letters Patent.

ratenteu May a, isis.

Application led August v31, 19,14. Serial No. 859,421.

i valuable space, especially in the case of the smaller ships, such asdestroyers and sub-' marines.

It isthe object of the present invention to"j overcome theseobjectionable features of tor?" pedo construction. In attaining thisobject, freev oxygen is used tosupport the combustion of the fuel ratherthan the oxygen ofA compressed air. This, however, is not broadly new.The invention consists' rather in the modification of the torpedostructure so that the use of free oxygen will contribute to the desiredend.

It will of course be understood that, tov

effect the combustion of a givenquantity of fuel, a much smallerquantity of stored compressed gas is requiredlwhen such gasis freeoxygen than when air. Accordingly,

in the practice of my invention the oxygen tion provides means wherebythe oXygen tanks may be quickly inserted within the torpedo body, andwith a minimum amount of care and labor, as will presently be describedin detail.

y Another and important advantage of my construction is that, owing tothe elimination o-f the usual air fiask and the substitution inpractical form of/a removable oxygen tank, itis possible to'obtain avery4 uniform fore and aftY distribution of the torpedo mechanism withrespect to` the weight thereof and Very materially increase the buoyancyofthe torpedo; since the usual heavy ballast weights required fortrimming the torpedo fore andV aft may be consider-- ably reduced. In'other words, Whereas heretofore all of the driving and `steeringmechanism,.including liquid storage tanks,

have necessarily been placed aft of the ilask, I can place suchmechanism` to the-- fore thereof vas will render the usual heavy ballastweights largely unnecessary.

The accompanying sheet of drawings, which forms part of thespecification, illustrates the preferred embodiment of the' invention.

j igurev 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing the generalarrangement of the driving mechanism and fluid storage reservoirs; Fig.2 is a transverse sectional View to enlarged scale, taken on the lineII-II, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 a sectional View bine 1, which, throughsuitably interposedn reduction gears, drives tandem propellers 2 and 2ain opposite directions. The motlve fluid for the turbine is generated inaheater j 3 into which is introduced oxygen from a 'by means of jointscrews 11.

tank 4, and water and fuel fronrtanks 5 and 6, respectively, placed inthe fore partv4 of the torpedo. This disposition of the liquidcontaining tanks is made possible through the elimination of the usualair flask and the substitution, in practical form, of' the portableoxygen tank. As will readily be seen, a more even distribution'of thefore and aft weight of the torpedo may be thus effected.

While any suitable arrangement may be used for mounting and connectingthe portable oxygen tank within .the shell, it is desirable to provideaconstruction wherein-it will be unnecessary to close any water-tightjoints before launching the torpedo and after the oxygen tank has beenplaced therein, otherwise undue time and care would be required to makeready for a shot. For this reason, in my preferred construction, theoxygen tank lies within a casing having one end opening to a compartmentaccessible to the sea.

Referring again to the illustrated embodiment of my invention, an opencompartment is formed between transverse bulkheads 7 and 8i, the formerof which is provided with an opening, to the margin of which the openend of a tank-containing casing'9 is secured by a water-tight joint.

` The torpedo-shell 10 is separable at the open compartment thus formed,preferably in the general plane of the bulkhead 7, the two sections ofthe shell being detachably connected to each other in the usual mannerThe casing, as will be seen, is slightly larger than the houtsidedimensions of the. tank 4, which is provided at one end with a flange-12adapted to abut against thebulkhead7 at the edge of the openingtherethrough. Suitable clamps are provided to hold the tank 4 in place.Ieach consisting preferably of a threaded stud 13 extending from thebulkhead 7,

a slotted block 14, and a nut 15. `The head of the tank 4 is providedwith a starting valve 16 which may be connected by means of a suitableunion joint 17 to a pipe 18 leading to a starting trigger 19, theoperation o-f which' is well understood by those skilled in the art. Thestarting valve is also connected by a second upionQO to a pipe 21leading to a reducing valve 22, and

'the flow of oxygen from the tank 4 to the starting valve may becontrolled by means of a valve .23. A,

It will be observed that, by such an arrangement-,as just described, afully charged tank, of 'oxygen-may be placed in the tor- .pedo in avery'short space of time, it being only necessary, after the tank hasbeen slipped into the casing 9,'to tighten the nuts 15', couple theunions 17 and 20, open the valve'23, and drive the joint screws 11,

all of which operations may be done without shown herein, to provideballast weights to keep the ,longitudinal center of gravity materiallybelow the axis of the torpedo. By dispensing with the usual heavy airflask, which has. an equal distribution of Weight, and placing theoxygen tank in the lower part of the torpedo so that the center ofgravity of the tank is substantially below the torpedo axis, theseballast weights may be eliminated to a larger extent and the totalweight of the torpedo structure col"- respondingly diminished.

The fuel and water may be fed to the heater 3 in any suitable or wellknown manner. As shown herein, the pressure of the oxygen is applied tothe upper surfaces of the fuel and water by means of a pipe 24 leadingfrom the reducing valve, and pipes 25 and 26 lead from the fuel tank 6and water tank 5, respectively, to the heater.`

From the foregoing description, the structural and operating advantagesof my improvements rare apparent. While I have shown but one embodimentof my invention, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an automobile torpedo, the combination of a shell, fluid pressuremeans for driv-` the tank in communication with the driving means fordriving the torpedo, a pair ofv bulkheads forming between them acompartment open to the sea, said shell being separable at a pointbetween the bulkheads, one of said bulkheads being provided with anopening, a water-tight easingcommunieating with and extending from saidopening, and' a .pressure fluid tank removably secured within. saidcasing.

3. In an automobile torpedo, the combination of a shell, uidpressurel'operated means for driving lthe torpedo, a pair o f bulkheads,forming between them a compartment open to the sea, the forward 'ofsaid bulkheads being provided with an opening, a tank-receiving casinghaving .an open end n secured to the margin of said bulkhead opening,and extending forwardly thereof,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Uommissioner of Patents,

Washington`,D.C.

my handf and means for Separating said shell in the plane of saidforward bulkhead.

4. In an automobile torpedo, the combination of a shell fluid pressureoperated means for driving the torpedo, a pair of bulkheads ormingbetween them a compartment open to the sea, the forward of saidbulkheads being provided with an opening, anelongate tank-receivingcasing hav- Iing an open end secured to the margin of said bulkheadopenings, a Huid pressure tank Within said' casmg and provided with aflange abutting against the forward bulk;v

head, vand a pair of clamps engaging said bulkhead and Hange.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set HAROLD w. SHONNARD.

Witnesses:

JAMES F. DUFFY, EMMAv B. WEISMAN;

